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Top Business/Market Headlines — Monday, October 19, 2026

1. Tech selloff rattles global markets, but futures bounce
Last Friday saw a brutal rout: for the week, the Nasdaq fell 4.5%, snapping a monthlong winning streak with its worst week since late June, while the S&P 500 declined 1.95%, while the Dow remained in the green, up 0.7%, as investors rotated away from the tech sector. The selloff was driven largely by chip stocks — US equity-index futures rebounded from last week's chip rout ahead of key earnings that may set the market's direction amid mounting pressure on the artificial intelligence trade, with S&P 500 futures climbing 0.5% and Nasdaq 100 futures advancing 0.9% this morning, bouncing back after Friday's Wall Street selloff, when a closely watched semiconductor gauge posted its longest losing streak since 2008.

2. AI-spending jitters spreading globally
The AI trade worries have gone global — South Korea's market opened sharply lower, with the benchmark KOSPI opening 3.17% lower as renewed concerns over artificial intelligence spending, foreign investor selling and semiconductor competition weighed on investor confidence, with major chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix facing fresh selling pressure.

3. Oil surges past $100 on Middle East tensions
Crude prices spiked over the weekend: U.S. crude topped $100 a barrel and global Brent crude hit $109, as Iran stepped up attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and Ukraine vowed to keep hitting Russian refineries. As a result, energy was the best sector in the S&P 500, and Chevron helped keep the Dow's losses small.

4. Bond yields and volatility rising
Market internals point to a risk-off tone heading into the week: the 10-year yield is 5.0980%, VIX is 19.98, high-beta growth is down 4.71%, and major technology names are broadly lower, led by Meta at -3.72%.

5. Big week ahead for earnings
A heavy earnings slate could determine market direction: the five reports most people will hear about this week are General Motors and Netflix on Tuesday, Tesla and Meta on Wednesday, and Procter & Gamble on Thursday. Notably, Meta is the largest company reporting all week, with a market value of $1,878.9 billion, publishing after the close on Wednesday.

6. AI industry corporate moves
In other AI-related business news, Anthropic announced it is committing 5% of its shares, subject to stockholder approval, to a new wholly-owned LLC called the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, and separately OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed the company is building a humanoid robot and expects to show a demo in 2027.

Bottom line: Markets remain jittery over AI-sector valuations and chip-stock weakness, oil prices are climbing due to Middle East tensions, and investors are now looking to a packed earnings week (Meta, Tesla, Netflix, GM, P&G) for signals on whether tech can regain its footing.